• This Issue
• Subscribe
• Advertisers
• Ad FAQS
• Ad Web Sites
• About IAT
• Link to IAT

French Masterpieces visit Germany
via New York City

Title: Stillleben mit Äpfeln und Primeln
(Nature morte avec pommes et un pot de Primevères)
(Still Life with Apples and a jar of Primevères), ca. 1890
Artist: Paul Cézanne (French 1839-1906)
Bequest of Sam A. Lewisohn, 1951
© Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

19th Century French Masterpieces 1800-1920
from the Collection of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
at Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
June 1 – October 7, 2007

France comes to Berlin via New York City.

Title: Das Sofa (Le Sofa) (The Sofa), 1894-96
Artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French 1864-1901)
Rogers Fund, 1951
© Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Cézanne, Ingres and Monet are just a few of the masters on their way across the pond as the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin hosts an exquisite collection of French Masterpieces drawn from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Title: Odaliske in Grisaille
(Odalisque en Grisaille) (Odalisque in Grisaille), 1824-34
Artist: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (French 1780-1867)
Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund, 1938
© Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Luckily for Germany, New York's Metropolitan Museum is undergoing construction, meaning several of their impressive French works lack display space. Rather than put them away they put them on tour. Approximately 150 works from its remarkable collection of French Masters will be on display in the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin's Staatliche Museen, albeit briefly, they return to New York in the autumn.

Title: Im Boot (On the Boat), 1874
Artist: Edouard Manet (French 1832-1883)
H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
© Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Vincent van Gogh

Title: Schwertlilie (Les iris) (The Irises), 1890
Artist: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch 1853-1890)
Gift of Adele R. Levy, 1958
© Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

The Dutch van Gogh, who painted in France, is included with his brilliant The Irises.

Edgar Degas

Title: Tänzerinnen (Rosa und Grün) Danseuses (Rose et Vert) Dancers (Rose and Green), ca. 1890
Artist: Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (French 1834-1917)
H. O. Havermeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havermeyer
© Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Degas met Edouard Manet in the Louvre, while he was copying a Velázquez. Manet introduced Degas to his Impressionist friends leading to a long association between the artists. Prior Degas' preferred genre was historical subjects he turned to contemporary settings such as ballet dancers.

Alexandre Cabanel

Title: Die Geburt der Venus (Naissance de Vénus) Birth of Venus, 1875
Artist: Alexandre Cabanel (French 1823-1889)
Gift of John Wolfe, 1893
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

French Academic painter Alexandre Cabanel disliked the Impressionists, having particular disdain for Manet. Unlike the Impressionists he was well received at Paris's Salon. At the 1863 Salon the Emperor Napoleon III purchased Cabanel's depiction of the Birth of Venus. Note the Metropolitan's Cabanal was painted in 1875.

The German Collection

Title: Fischerboote und Brandung, 1888
Artist: Vincent van Gogh (Dutch 1853-1890)
Medium: Rohrfeder, braune Tusche, Bleistift (Pencil and Brown Ink)
© SMB, Nationalgalerie
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

It's an opportunity to view some key works by noted masters such as Vincent van Gogh.

Title: Landhaus in Hilversum (Country House in Hilversum), 1901
Artist: Max Liebermann (German 1847 - 1935)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 65 x 80 cm
© SMB, Nationalgalerie
Image Courtesy: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Don't overlook some of the German masters in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin's own collection.

19th Century French Masterpieces 1800-1920
from the Collection of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin:
June 1 - October 7 2007